Will Weaver be the greatest Angel ever?

Are we watching the greatest Angel in history? Click through to see what Weaver needs to do to pass each of the current top 10. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 10, Troy Percival... Weaver was No. 39 on our list, but I thought that was way too low, and since then he has added an exceptional 2011 campaign. So Weaver isn't far behind Percival already. All the same, Perci has four All-Star appearances, a top-15 MVP finish, and the final out of the World Series. Weaver had two All-Star appearances and, after this year, two top-5 Cy Young finishes. If he's an All-Star twice more, and wins 40 more games (putting him third on the Angels' all-time list), he'll be clearly ahead of Percival. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 9, Rod Carew... Carew was worth 16.4 Wins Above Replacement as an Angel, but his six seasons were memorable: Six All-Star games, the 3,000th hit, a couple plate appearances. Weaver already tops him in WAR (26.3) and playoff appearances, so all he lacks is the recognition and/or memorable accomplishments. If he wins 20 games, he's past Carew. If he wins a Cy Young, he's past Carew. He has already led the league in Ks and is leading now in ERA; if he leads in, say, wins, he's past Carew. He just needs black and blue ink on his Baseball-Reference page. (Note: Wins Above Replacement, an everything stat published on Baseball-Reference.com, will be referred to regularly and is crucial to these assessments.) AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 8, Brian Downing... Jered Weaver actually does need to do some work to pass Downing, whose WAR as an Angel (37.7) is still a couple good years better than Weaver's (26.3). To make up 11.4 WAR in five years, Weaver has to be a little bit better than average and stay healthy. He basically needs to have his 2008 season (11-10, 4.33, 2.6 WAR) five more times. He's obviously a lot better now than 2008 Weaver, but you can't take health and excellence for granted. PHOTO BY KEVIN SULLIVAN, OCR. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 7, Bobby Grich... Grich was worth 35 WAR to Weaver's 26, almost the same gap as with Downing. Grich was also a top-15 MVP finisher twice, a four-time all-star, and his 1981 season is one of the greatest in Angels history. Weaver could pass him in WAR with four merely average years, but to pass him in that vague and undefinable term "greatness," he needs a couple more All-Star-level seasons, or one more Cy Young-level season. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 6, Chuck Finley... Finley pitched so long with the Angels that to pass him on the counting stats Weaver would have to be stunningly good for the next five years or pitch more than five more years. Not only that, but Weaver still hasn't had even one year as good (by WAR) as Finley's third-best. So there's work to do here. To pass Finley, Weaver needs to have two more seasons good enough to be in the Cy Young conversation. And, since he might not pass Finley in total wins or WAR, he needs to maintain the highest winning percentage in Angels history, the best ERA+ in Angels history. Over the next five years, then, Weaver needs to be aroudn 75-50 with an ERA around 3.25. (Over his past five, he's 67-43, 3.39.) PHOTO BY KEVIN SULLIVAN, OCR. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 5, Garret Anderson... It's not necessarily fair to Weaver, but the guys from 2002 -- GA, Salmon, Erstad, Eckstein, Percival -- get a huge boost because of that World Series victory, and the unexpectedness of that team even competing. No team will ever endear itself to the fans the way the 2002 bunch did. Weaver, though, should pass Anderson in career WAR early next year, and his past two seasons are arguably stronger than Anderson's 2002/2003 peak. Anderson fell off after those two seasons, hitting just 14 homers the next season and never earning another MVP vote. If Weaver a) is a Cy Young candidate next year and b) stays healthy enough to compile some franchise records (i.e. 90 more wins), this will be an easy win for Weaver. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 4, Vladimir Guerrero... More than anybody we've talked about so far, Guerrero's "greatness" as an Angel was about being one of the very best in baseball for a short period of time with the team. In his five seasons with the Angels, he had five top-15 MVP finishes, including one win. But that's the entirety of his resume, so if Weaver matches it -- If Weaver is one of the best pitchers in baseball for at least three years of this contract, giving him a five-year run at the top -- his longevity with the team pushes him past Guerrero. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 3, Jim Fregosi... Fregosi was just so good. He has the single best season in Angels history, by WAR, and six of the best 50. So good. Can Weaver match it? Heck yeah. He's got four of the top 50 pitching seasons in team history, and his 6.1 WAR this year is within striking distance of Fregosi's career-best 8.1 WAR in 1964. If he has two great seasons and two good ones under this contract, he'll blow past Fregosi, especially with a very solid postseason resume already half written. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 2, Tim Salmon... Unless Weaver signs an extension on top of this extension, he won't be able to match Tim Salmon's longevity + Angels identity. His stats will easily surpass Salmon's -- he could pass him in WAR by 2013, in half as many seasons -- but Salmon's career as an Angel is as much about being a one-team player, a microcosm of a team overlooked by national audiences, a World Series hero. Weaver needs to do something to make Angels' fans proud. Two 20-win seasons? A Cy Young award? A shutout in the World Series? One of those should do it, as would about 75 wins over the life of this contract + reupping and retiring as an Angel. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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To pass No. 1, Nolan Ryan... Well, this is tricky. Is Weaver going to strike out 383 batters, or make a 250-pitch start, or throw multiple no-hitters, or pitch 90 shutouts in a season? Of course not. Jered Weaver will never be greater than Nolan Ryan in the way that Nolan Ryan was great. But he can be better. If his next two seasons are like 2011, he'll have been worth about as many WAR as Ryan in as many seasons. And with 60 wins in five years, he'll pass Ryan's total with the Angels. To pass Ryan in "greatness," let's say this: Three more top-five finishes in Cy Young voting, one Cy Young win, one more ERA title in addition to 2011, 88 more wins by the end of his contract (and the franchise record), and a memorable postseason moment should do it. That would make him the winningest pitcher in Angels history, with the best winning percentage, the best adjusted ERA, the highest career WAR (by a lot) and plenty of definining achievements. That's how Jered Weaver becomes the greatest Angel in history. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

A few months ago, the Register counted down the 50 greatest Angels in history. Jered Weaver ranked 39th, but after his exceptional 2011 season, and knowing he will be here for at least five more seasons, it's worth asking:

Will Jered Weaver end up as the greatest Angel ever?

He's got work to do. Click through the photos to see what he has to do to pass each member of our top 10.

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